Security systems are becoming essential for passenger vehicles, in particular, family sedans and vans, which constitute costly possessions for ordinary families and small businesses. A typical vehicle security system is incorporated as part of the electronic system of a vehicle and provides a selection of security functions such as intrusion alarm arming and automatic door locking and can also provide convenience functions such as vehicle locating in a crowded parking lot.
Vehicle security systems are generally classified as being either active arming system or passive arming systems. For passive arming, there are systems with or without a door-locking function, systems with or without an arming/disarming chirp, and so on. Similar functional varieties can also be found for active arming systems. Whatever the category, all these functions of a vehicle security system must be programmable to satisfy different user requirements. For example, a user of a vehicle security system living in an apartment may want to turn off the arming/disarming chirp, or at least reduce the sound level of the chirp, if he or she is late coming home. On the other hand, the sensitivity of the intrusion alarming function may need to be reduced on windy days.
As a self-contained electronic system, any such vehicle security system relies on a user decision concerning which ones of all the provided security functions to enable and which to disable. Further, some of the function parameters, such as the chirp sound level mentioned above, would have to be set to a level suitable for the environment in which the system is operated. Thus, when attempting to set up, or program, the functions of a vehicle security system, human interface design for the interaction between the security device and the user becomes an important factor for the convenient, successful and efficient use of the security device.
For the purpose of describing the invention, several typical prior-art vehicle security systems are briefly examined in the following paragraphs with reference to the accompanying drawings. Among the examined security systems, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the circuit configuration of one system that employs a dual in-line package (DIP) switch array for programming the security functions. The systems of FIGS. 2 and 3 have basically the same circuit configuration, although they employ different function-programming methodologies.
As can be observed in FIG. 1, the typical vehicle security system is built around a microcontroller 30 to provide all its security functions for a vehicle. Specifically, in addition to the governing microcontroller 30, the depicted system can be constructed to include subsystems such as a power door-lock 31, a starter interrupt 32, at least one LED 33, a siren 34, a vehicle light signaling control 35, and an auxiliary output 36. All these subsystems are controlled by the microcontroller 30 for facilitating all the control and status, indicating purposes involved in the security functional operations of the system.
For example, the LED array 33 is typically a subsystem installed on the dashboard to display different lighting patterns indicating to the user (the driver of the vehicle) information concerning the security system status. Additionally, if a security violation event is triggered from outside the vehicle after the security system is armed, subsystems siren control 34 and vehicle light signaling control 35 can be activated in different sounding schemes and head/signal light lighting patterns respectively. These sound and light signals warn about the attempted or achieved intrusion into the guarded vehicle. Further, the auxiliary output 36 can be used to initiate, for example, a radio transmitting device on board the vehicle which can send predefined signal patterns for use in determining the location of the vehicle.
The system outlined in the block diagram of FIG. 1 further includes the ignition switch status indicator 21, the valet/override switch 22, the DIP switch array 23 and a radio receiver 10. The ignition switch status relayed from the indicator 21 is used by the microcontroller 30 to determine the operating state of the entire security system. For example, if the ignition switch of the vehicle is in the normal ON position, and the vehicle is coasting along a road, the security system should then ignore some of its sensing inputs such as the vehicle body vibrating sensor input.
The radio receiver 10 is used as part of a wireless link over which is communicated vehicle operator instructions to the vehicle security system. On most occasions, the wireless link is established via electromagnetic signals transmitted from a radio transmitter 12 included in a remote control unit of the vehicle security system. This remote control unit is normally carried by the owner of the vehicle with, for example, a main ignition switch key of the vehicle.
The DIP switch array 23 in FIG. 1, as well as its counterparts in FIGS. 2 and 3, serves to provide a means for the programming of all the security functions for the vehicle. One of the conventional programming methods employed for setting up functions provided by a vehicle security system is via setting the ON/OFF states of switches in such a DIP switch array. This DIP switch array is normally installed on the electronic printed circuit board (PCB) of the security device. In a block diagram, FIG. 1 schematically illustrates one such system employing this programming scheme. Access to the system circuit module is necessary, and not only when the vehicle security system is used for the first time. Subsequent function adjustment or security device reprogramming also requires the direct access of the DIP switch array. This commonly requires removing the security system module from the vehicle to gain access to the DIP switch array. The circuit module must be opened and the DIP switches exposed to a service technician, or the user, to perform the function adjustment and/or the reprogramming.
Since vehicle security systems are designed to provide ever more complicated functions, using DIP switches to set up even some, if not all, of these security functions has become a task that cannot be considered easy and straightforward. Adjustment setting in a large array of DIP switches is not an easy task, as each individual switch has to be identified before a setting can be made. Such jobs normally have to be performed by trained service personnel. Meanwhile, if DIP switches are to be used for function setting, for security systems with complicated functions, a large number of DIP switches must be used. As a result, system PCB's have to provide board space for these DIP switches. The cost of this increased PCB size adds to the already added cost of the DIP switches themselves, increasing the cost of the vehicle security system hardware.
FIG. 2 illustrates the construction of a vehicle security system wherein a limited number of programming control switches and a wireless transmission are used for programming the security functions. The scheme is to employ a smallest possible number of electrical switches to facilitate the security system function adjustment and/or reprogramming in a step-by-step procedure. This is a method designed to circumvent the necessity of using a large array of switches for the setting of every individual function provided by the vehicle security device.
Normally, by setting the vehicle security system of FIG. 2 to its program mode by properly setting the program switch 24, a user can program all the functions by pressing a small number of control switches on a remote control unit. The remote control unit used for such programming is frequently the unit used for the normal operation of the security system. The design of the entire vehicle security system allows the normal remote control unit to become the programming unit automatically when the system module is set to the program mode.
Essentially, this is a step-by-step scheme in which all the function-setting options are sequenced for user selection and setting. A user has the opportunity to set each and every function of the security system as he or she steps through the entire cycle. One obvious disadvantage of this scheme, however, is that the user frequently misses a step. Frequently, it is forgotten which step is associated with a particular function to be set or adjusted. Sometimes, even when the step counting is correct, a function whose setting has been passed is desired to be altered. The entire stepping cycle will then have to be sequenced again. Although relatively simple hardware can be set up to implement such a straightforward rotating function-setting scheme, such a scheme does not meet today's user-friendliness standard.
Still another conventionally known vehicle security system function-programming scheme involves the use of a controlling host computer. The host computer used may be, for example, a popular IBM-compatible PC, which is coupled via a suitable electronic interface to the vehicle security system for implementing the functions setting. This has the advantage of user-friendliness since a graphic user interface (GUI) can be adopted for human interface. FIG. 3 shows an example of such an arrangement for implementing this host-programming scheme.
The block diagram illustrated in FIG. 3 incorporates a host computer system that serves to control the function-programming procedure in a security system via interface through the programming interface electronics 25. Although this scheme provides better flexibility in the process of function selection and setting, a direct connection of the circuit module to a host computer is necessary. Before the connection to the host computer is made, the circuit module of the vehicle security system has to be removed from the vehicle and taken to the location where the host computer resides. On most occasions, only vehicle service shops have the necessary interface between the host computer and the vehicle security system. As a result, the convenience of programming interface is not directly accessible to the end user, that is, the owner of the vehicle.